Combined crate and pallet



Sept. 1 7, 1957 Filed Feb. 24, 1956 M. H. BECKNER COMBINED CRATE ANDPALLET 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 p 1957 M. H. B'ECKNER 2,806,623

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United States Patent 2,806,623 COMBINED CRATE AND PALLET Marshall H.Beckner, Washington, Pa., assignor to Tri- State Engineering Company,Washington, Pa., a corporation of Maryland Application February 24,1956, Serial No. 567,533 2 Claims. (Cl. 220-6) The invention relates tocombined crate and pallet structures constituting a modification of myco-pending application Serial No. 567,537, filed February 24, 1956, andhas for its principal object the provision of a structure of such formwherein the end walls are foldable upon the side walls and one of theside walls has shiftable connection with the deck or bottom wall of thestructure, whereby although it may rest directly upon the deck when invertical position, can be raised slightly from the deck and folded intohorizontal position and into parallelism with the other vertical wallswhen they are folded.

Some of the forms which my invention may take are shown in theaccompanying drawings wherein Figure l is an end elevational view of acombined crate and pallet embodying one form of my invention;

Fig. 2 is a side view thereof looking at the right hand side of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a view showing the crate of Fig. 1 folded upon the deck orpallet portion of the structure;

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional view of a portion of the structure ofFig. 1;

Fig. 5 is a sectional elevational view showing a modification of thestructure of Fig. 1;

Fig. 6 is a face view thereof;

Fig. 7 is a view showing the side wall of Fig. 5 folded to horizontalposition above the deck;

Fig. 8 shows a modification of the structure of Figs. 1 to 3, with theside walls and ends in folded position upon a deck;

Fig. 9 shows a side wall of Fig. 8 in upright position upon the deck,and

Fig. 10 the wall in folded position relative to the deck, but with theother Walls of Fig. 8 omitted.

Referring first to Figs. 1 to 4, the crate comprises a side wall 11 ofrods welded in crossed relation, the lowermost horizontal rod 12 of thewall being hingedly connected to a rod 13 by a helical wire 14. The rod13 is one of a series of transverse rods welded to horizontal rods 15 tothereby form the deck sheet of the pallet. The deck sheet is welded toan nnderframe 16 of channel bars to which legs 17 are welded.

The side wall 11 is hingedly connected by a helical wire 18 to an endwall 19 that has a stop 20 on its lower end which extends behind one ofthe underframe bars and prevents bulging of this end wall under internalpressures.

The other side wall 21 has an end wall 22 hingedly connected thereto bya spiral hinge 23, at that corner of the crate diagonally opposite tothe hinge 18. At the other diagonal corners, the side walls 21 and 11are respectively detachably connected to the end walls by bolts 24 thatare slidably supported on these side walls, for movement into and out ofloop-like eyes 25 that are welded to the end walls 19 and 22respectively, which eyes extend through mesh openings in the walls 21and 11, as shown more clearly in Figs. 1 and 2. The end walls aretherefore foldable against the side walls, on the hinges 18 and 23, whenthe latches are disengaged and it is desired to fold the side walls 21and 11 flatwise upon the deck. A shoulder 25 (Fig. 4) on the deckprevents the lower edge of the wall 21 moving outwardly past the edge ofthe deck.

In order to permit of this flatwise folding. clearance must be providedbetween the panels or walls, and to this end, I bend the longitudinaldeck wires 15 upwardly at one end, to provide for an upwardly-offsethinge connection with the side wall 21. To this end, a helical wire 26is rotated into engagement with a rod 27 that is welded to the upturnedends of the deck rods at 15:: and a rod 28 that is welded to the sidewall 21. When the vertical walls are'in upright position, they will allbe supported directly by the deck, including the side walls 21, since asshown in Fig. 4, there is some looseness or play as between the helix 26and the rods 27 and 28 that will allow the side wall to rest upon thedeck as shown in Fig. 4 or to be raised slightly as shown in Fig. 3. Thevertical walls of the crate can be readily removed by unscrewing thewires 14 and 26, thereby permitting use of the base as an ordinarypallet.

Referring now to Figs. 5, 6 and 7, I show a structure that is similar tothe structure of Figs. 1 to 4, but differing therefrom only in themanner in which the vertical shiftable side wall 31 is connected to thedeck. In this case, the deck rods 30 which correspond to the deck rods15 of Fig. l are bent upwardly for a much greater distance and the sidewall 31 therefore has a greater range of vertical shifting to permitfolding thereof to flatwise position. Here, the bottom horizontal rod 32of the wall 31 is connected by a helical wire 33 to bent-up ends 34 ofthe deck rods 30, the said bent ends being disposed outwardly of the rod32 (Fig. 5) and having a rod 35 welded thereto. The helix 33 extendsaround the rods 32 at its inner side, and the outer-turned portions ofthe helix partly embrace the vertical extensions 34 of the deck.

In Figs. 8, 9 and 10, still another form of the invention is shown. Incommon with the form shown in Fig. 5, it provides for a great amount ofclearance for folding. In this case, the wall 38 at one side of the deck(that corresponds to the wall 21) has lost-motion connection with thedeck 39 by straps or yokes 40 that are of looplike form welded at theirlower ends to the deck and loosely encompassing the bottom rod 41 of theside wall 38. In this case as in the other two forms above described,all vertical walls have direct support by the deck. As in Fig. 2, theother side wall of this structure can be hinged closely down to the deckas at 14 in Fig. 1.

I claim as my invention:

1. A combined pallet and crate structure, comprising a pallet-like deckof sheet-like form having legs, the deck being bent upwardly at oneedge, a side wall hingedly connected to the opposite edge of the deckand foldable thereon, a second side wall hingedly connected to thebent-up edge, the last-named hinge connection being vertically movableon the bent-up edge, so that the second side wall, when in verticalposition, will rest upon the deck and when turned to a horizontal plane,it may be disposed in such vertically-spaced relation to the deck as tooverlie other walls laid upon the deck, and end walls engageable withthe said side walls, the deck and vertical walls being all of weldedmesh form, and the hinge connection of said second side wall to the deckbeing of spiral form and vertically slidable on the bent-up mesh membersof the deck.

2. A structure as recited in claim 1, wherein said opposite edge of thedecksheet is bent upwardly a relatively short distance and to which thefirst-named side wall is connected by a lost-motion hinge device thatpermits of this wall to rest directly upon the deck when in verticalposition.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,432,454 Geraci Oct. 17, 1922 2,553,273 Phillips May 15, 1951 2,735,568Bitney Feb. 21, 1956 2,738,940 Coit Mar. 20, 1956

